JUDGMENT

KRISHNA IYER, J. :—I have heard submissions of Sri Agarwala counsel for the petitioner, on the alleged errors of law and wrong appreciation of evidence largely plausible exercises in coquetry with technicality, intelligence of expression and like arguments which did not pay dividends in the two courts below and cannot be re-opened in this court. After all, romance with legal niceties and probative nuances, if exaggerated beyond a limit, produce in the long run, a justice gap which is socially injurious. I see no grave error or miscarriage of justice in law or fact.

2. The petitioner is a tax inspector trapped in the act of taking a bribe of Rs. 100/- a small sum and a small official in the wide perspective of Indian public service. May be, it is the lesser minions who get caught and purging public life of maxi-corruption by deterrent sentences is more desirable but less feasible. Both these alibis, perhaps valid outside court, cannot attenuate the quantum of punishment or the propriety of its severity. The watershed of pollution in the administration cannot be permitted to be crossed by misconceived judicial compassion or high level executive indifference. One public offici